Automatic closing device for fire-doors.



A. a. ELVIN & F- W. MARTIN. AUTOMATIC CLOSING DEVICE FOR FIRE DOORS.

APPLICATION FILED IAN-22.1916.

LQM I I Patented Apla 80, 1918.

MN mm MMN I wN n u/ m .M Q 1%: L LI QM V E. K N AWN ZEII/TOIiS drafts or cold e6 retains .his foot on the pedal.

the valve casing,

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nu'ronn'rrc onosrrro nnvron ron FIRE-DOORS.

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n; sun MAR-TIN ASSIGNOR CEO-SAID ELVIN.

1 originarapplication and October 26, 1914, Serial No. 868,611. Divided and this application filed January it,

1916. M Serial No. 73,599.

To all whomit ma concern: i

Be it known that we, ALBnn'r Gr. ELVIN,

of. Somerville, inthe' county'l'of Somerset and. State" its principal ob ect tofprovidc means for automatically efi'ecting a 'POSltlVB closing .oi"

the fire door within a predetermined interval after the same has been opened, andthereby prevent the firemantrom holding the door Y "the valve,

open for axlongenper od. K In this fire door apparatus as used .on'jlo- 2e comotives, the fluid pressure motor for actug controlled by} a as the doors isjv usually ating edal. device, and 1t valveoperated byLla' been the. practice"o some firemen to hold the foot upon the'pedal with 'the 'door open a sufiiciently long period oftime to deliver" fuel i lnto the t fu'rnace- Of This practice is, objectionable, as large airare admitted to'the fur:

through the wide open several shovelf ls nace at such. times door, whichjtend' "to-cool the fire and chill the water heating surfaces. With our improvement "this" is -pos1t1vely prevented, as

" the dOOIjfWlll be promptly" closed after. a I 'predeterminedtimeleven thongh the fireman In the accompanying drawings: Figure- I 1' is a-front elevation, and Fig 2, a vertical section of the fluid pressure motor, of one embodying our to improvement; and F1g.'3, 'asimilar vertical form of firefdoor' apparatus section showing a modification,"

QAccordingto" the construction, shown in Figsbl and 2, our improvement is applied Lin I connection l with horizontally sliding to dbwrs, 6, operatedhy pivoted arms, 7, ih-av- 1 ing intermeshingagears, 8, and oneso'f said arms being connected to the piston, 9, movfable in"theihorizontal cylinder, 10, of the motor. Fluid under pressure, such as compressed air, is supplied [from pipe,

' 12, containing valves, 13 and 14:, su'pgly port, 15, and'exhaust port, 16. ,Port,'1

- of New Jersey, and FREDERIGK I h W.-MAR TI1}I,'O the borough ofManhattan,

fire door I appa Y when near L t When the arm,

for the'p'urpose of opening the furnace door,

13, is, opened to admit fluid through port, 15,-and-around groove, 19,2 ,-1n

exhaust port, 16, would 11, to since the reduced portion and door would leads from va1ve, 1t, to the the closed position vWhen thep'iston is The arm, 23, pedal 'de-.

adapted to be connected with avice (not shown) operated by the foot of the engages the end of the stem, 13, a

13, for actuating the same fireman, of the valve, This stem, 13, also has a small groove, adapted to register with the exhaust 16,-in the open position of the valve.

of valve,

18, port,

The 3 14, is providedwith grooves, 19 and 20, andis operated by a rod, 21, having an inclined face at one end,

and a head at the opposite end located in a recess in the piston, 9," and [adapted to engage the eouter end of its stroke.

stem, 14, into the cylinder, thereby movthe piston, 9, through its outward traverse, and opening the door. In this position of the valve oove, 18, communicates with the exhaust port, 16, which is,'-however,

late, 22, on the piston head 23, is raised by the fireman I stem, 13, the small closed by the stem, 14, thereby preventing escape of fluid,

As the piston,

traverse, the plate, 22, engages the head on 9, approaches the end of its" the 'endof rod, 2-1,}a nd the rod, 21 istactiiated to raise the valve/{14, and stem, 14:, to the position in which port, 17, is open i to the supply, port, 15,'is closed, and groove, 20, communicates with the port, 16; Fluid "is-thus admitted through port, 17 to the opposite end of the 'cylinder to return the piston ,to the closed position, but the ca'-- pacity' of the exhaust port,-16, isrestricted by the small groove,

slowly, thereby retarding the closing movement of the pis ,ton. In this manner the piston will be auto- .matically 18, in stem, 13, whereby the fluid first admitted to the front end g of the cylinder escapes very and closed in a predetermined time 13, open. If he 4 13, to its closed position, the

4 pacity of the restricted the ' erallyand' vertically,

. obviously "opposes the 'nmediate valve, 21

. pedal. arm, 23, is again operated.

the inlet port, 15,, and a 19?, in,valve, 21", of the cylinder, face. of-difi'erential stem,'13- and this may be readilyfixed to suit different conditions. The construction shown in Fig. 3-,is s1m1- lar to that of Fig. 2,

the valve rod, 21, actuated by the stri ing plate, 22, on the piston, 9, while the. valve,

' 14 for admitting fluid to the opposite side Wh 20 of the differential piston is by the piston through the the inclined surface, 9 provided with a groove,

operated directly engagement with The valve, 21", is 19*, for controlling cavity, 20", for connecting the cylinder port to the restricted exhaust port, 16", to the atmosphere when the piston reaches the open position. To prevent the cylindrical valve, 21", from turning in its chamber, a s ring actuated detent,

may be employed j'eng'aging a groove in the valve. This also serves to hold the valve in position and prevent the same fromfalling into the cylinder-when the piston.v

moves downward and the shoulder of the valve. is not supported by the plate, 22, of iston.

W en the valve, 13, is raised fromits seat, the exhaust port, 16, 16 is closed, and fluid 'from the supply,

11, and a connecting passage indicated in dotted lines, flows through the inlet and into the upper end where it acts upon the large piston, 9, to move the same downward and as will be readily'undei'stood, there being any suitable form of connections, between the piston and said doors.

nectlon is made to the ordinary=butterfly type of doorsin which the doorsswing latthev weight of the downward movement of the piston andassists upward movement -'of the same.

. opens the valve, '14", thereby admitting fluid smaller area of the the doors'fully open, rod is engaged by the plate, and theyalve, 21 ismoved As the istonmoves downward, the inclined sur ace,- 9 engages and from the source of supply to the'opposite or piston. As the piston approachesthe lower end of its stroke, with the'head of the valve 22,01 the piston, downward to its lower-position in which the cut oil and thecylinder is put into communication with the small iescape port, 16*,

door depends upon the ca groove, 18, 1n valveexcept that the interis connected direetl to the direct as indicated in Fig.

port, -15, around groove,

open the door or doors,

Where the eondoors I exhaust from the inlet port, 15, is

pressure upon the opposite or smaller face of the piston. The piston then moves upward and the doors close. As the piston reaches the upper end of its stroke, the plate, 1

22, engages theshoulder of the valve, 21", and returns the same to its upper position, in which the escape port is out off and the groove, 19 aga1n registers with the inlet port, 15. The valve, 1 1", will also be closed when the piston is in this position. If the admissionvalve, 13, is still held open, fluid will again pass into the upper end of the cylinder, and the operation will be repeated. en, however, the fireman operates the door device in the usual and, proper manner, by promptly releasing the pedal after the delivery of each shovelful of coal, the valve, 13, immediately drops to its seat, thereby cutting off the supply of fluid to the admission port, 15, while the stem, 13, opens exhaust port, 16, whereupon the cylinder exhausts direct to the atmosphere, and the door closes promptly. The fluidpressure acting on the upper ,ends of valves, 13 and 14, is ordinarily sufiieient'to effect a closing of said valves when the stems are released at the bottom, but if more prompt action is desired, springs, such 3,.may be employed to assist this movement.

In both of the modifications shown, the

I operation is such that after the opening of .the door, the same begins to close, and

Will be closed automatically within a certain short interval of time, eventhough the fireman retains'the pedal device open, thereby insuring single shovel firing, or the delivery of but one shovel of fuel into thefurnace at each opening and closing of the door.

' This application is a division of our former application Ser. N 0. 868,611, filed October 26, 1914. 7

Having now described our invention, what weclaim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The combination of a cylinder and piston, a manually operated valve for controlling the admission of fluid to, and the ex- .haust from, said cylinder,and an auxiliary valve means controlled by the movement of thepiston at the end of its stroke to automatically out 01f the admission and open an cylinder at a predetermined time after the opening of the manual valve to permit a return movement of the piston. I

.2. The combination of a ton, a, manually operated ling an admission cylinder and pisvalve for controlpassage to said cylinder and an exhaust therefrom, anauxiliary valve also controlling said admission passage, and actuated by the movement of the piston at the opposite ends of its stroke, and means for allowing a gradual escape of fluid from said cylinder to permit a return movement of the piston. t

3. The combination of a cylinder and piston, a manually operated valve for controlling an admission passage to said cylinder and an exhaust therefrom, and an auxiliary valve actuated by the movement of the piston in one directionto close said admission passage and open a restricted exhaust from the cylinder, and; in the opposite direction to open the admission passage and close said restricted exhaust.

4:. The combination of a cylinder and piston, a manually operated valve for controllin the admission of fluid to one end of the cylinder and the exhaust therefrom, other valve means operated by the movement of the piston for cutting off said admission and for supplying fluid to the opposite side Q of the piston, and means for allowing a gradual escape of fluid from the initial end of the cylinder.

5. The combination of a cylinder and pis ton, a manually operated valve for controlling the admission of fluid to one end of the cylinder and the exhaust therefrom, an

auxiliary valve operated by the movement of the piston for cutting off said admission, means for allowing a gradual escape of fluid from said end of the cylinder, and another valve also actuated by the piston for controlling a supply of fluid to the opposite side thereof.

In testimony whereof W6 have hereunto set our hands.

ALBERT G. ELVIN. FREDERICK W. MARTIN. 

